Today was our last official day at Accra Girls Secondary School. First thing in the morning the headmistress assembled all of the girls in the courtyard for a presentation to us. They thanked us for coming and honored us with some beautiful gifts. They gave us each a cloth, designed by the visual arts students, that has Accra Girls School on it. I wrapped it around me like a skirt and the girls cheered. We each had the opportunity to say a little something to the girls and they were very enthusiastic and warm.
Later in the afternoon we worked with Jonathan and Osman in order to facilitate our ongoing communication between ACSS and our students. Pete, from Wisconsin, gave Jonathan his Bloggie to use to tape his girls and send videos to us. In the afternoon we had the opportunity to visit some more classrooms. I attended a Foods class that was discussing the nutritional properties of various forms of flour: wheat, corn, cassava, potato, millet, etc. It was fascinating!
Inside a girls dormitory at Accra Girls Secondary School
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| Student laundry drying |
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| Dormitory at Accra Girls Secondary School |
Afterward, since I'd received so many questions concerning the dormitory situation, the head housemistress generously hosted a tour of the dormitories for us. She took us to one of the 3 large dormitories and showed us several of the girls rooms. The girls sleep in triple-stacked bunk beds. There were about 5 beds along each side of the room, totally sleeping arrangements for about 25-30 girls. Each girl had 3 school dress uniforms and 3 afternoon uniforms. The afternoon uniforms look like plaid pajamas. The girls wash their own clothes twice a week.
After our tour, our hosts Jonathan and Osman, wanted to host us for lunch since this would be our last day together. They generously took us to a wonderful authentic meal at a nearby restaurant. I had red red (beans) and plantain. Yum!
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Plantain, red red and chicken
AFter a long lunch where we all shared our life stories, we made it back to the school, said our goodbyes and Isaac, the school driver took us back to the hotel.
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Saying goodbye to Headmistress Veronica
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It's great to show the dorm set up. So many of our U.S. students don't understand that in other parts of the world students/families crave and value an education so much that they are willing to go great distances even if it means leaving the family behind. How many of our students here would realistically "survive" being away from their parents so long during this phase of their lives?
ReplyDeleteI think they view it as rite of passage in Ghana. These girls are coming from rather middle class backgrounds with electricity and running water at home, but at school they must carry their own water and wash their own clothes by hand. The parents are placing their daughters in the capable hands of professional fro their 4 years of high school. I'm not sure it's such a bad idea.....
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